Counting reset apparatus for use in measuring method

ABSTRACT

In measuring the magnitude of runs taken from a continuous production process where the size of the run is determined by the difference between two numbers, the present measuring method does not reset the count to zero at the beginning of each run, or permit the counting machine to recycle through zero during a run. Only the highest placed digit is reset. Apparatus wherein only the end wheel of a counting or number printing machine can be reset, is described.

United States Patent 1191 Davis 1 51 Jan. 2, 1973 [54] COUNTING RESET APPARATUS FOR USE IN MEASURING METHOD [75] lnventor: Charles H. Davis, Shrewsbury, NJ.

[73] Assignee: Anaconda Wire and Cable Company [22] Filed: March 22, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 126,812

52 US. Cl. ..235/58 P, 235/144 SM, 101/6 51 Int. (:1 ..G06c 11/04, G06C 15/42 [58] Field of Search ..235/58 P, 144 SM, 115; 101/6-7, 8, 32, 401.2

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1961 Petters ..235/l44M 8/1963 V00 ..235/144SM 3,143,959 8/1964 Burr et a1. ..l01/6 3,178,110 4/1965 3,188,944 6/1965 3,327,941 6/1967 Stauffer ..235/58 P Primary Examiner-Stephen J. Tomsky Attorney-Victor F. Volk ABSTRACT In measuring the magnitude of runs taken from a continuous production process where the size of the run is determined by the difference between two numbers, the present measuring method does not reset the count to zero at the beginning of each run, or permit the counting machine to recycle through zero during a run. Only the highest placed digit is reset. Apparatus wherein only the end wheel of a counting or number printing machine can be reset, is described.

4 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure PATENTEB 2 I975 3,708.1 l2

INVENTOR. CHARLES H. DAVIS COUNTING RESET APPARATUS FOR USE IN MEASURING METHOD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION starting the sequence at one or any other preselected number. Such a process is illustrated by the manufacture of electric cable although my invention is by no means limited to this application. In the manufacture of electric cable, and thishas particular application to telephone cable, it is known to print numbers in sequence at oneor two-foot distances along the cable surface during the extrusion of the overall cable jacket. The cable is jacketed in a continuous length greater than that which can be taken up on a single shipping reel but it is required to be able at any time to determine the length of cable on a reel by reference to the numbers on its leading and trailing ends. if, in the course of manufacture, the number printing apparatus were permitted to exhaust itself and automatically start again at zero, some of the estimates of reel lengths would be in error if they were calculated by simply subtracting the smaller number on one end from the larger number on the other. In some processes it is endeavored to meet this problem by using a numbering system of so manydigits that it need only be reset when there is a natural interruption in the process itself. Such large numbers are, however, undesirably confusing to read, and, if the printing area is limited, may be so small that they are difficult to see or to print clearly. Ideally, the footage figures need run no higher than the footage that be held on the largest reel. In some types of process where time is not an important element the type of problem hereinabove described may be solved by resetting the digit indicators of the numbering machine to zero for each sub-lot or reel. In practice, however, this is not practical for several reasons. Where a numbering apparatus is required to print out the numbers, the mechanism is required to be so sturdy and substantial that all the number bearing wheels cannot be quickly reset to zero and an interruption in the process would be required to set the counter after the run of each sub-lot. The frequent resetting of each of the wheels of a numbering machine would introduce an additional element of wear and likely result in frequent breakdown of the apparatus and interruption of the process. A machine capable of instantaneously resetting all of the wheels to zero would be extremely expensive and, what may be more detrimental, would need more maintenance due to the added complexity.

Numbering and number printing machines are known in which all the number bearing wheels can be reset at one stroke. Usually such machines are reset by reversing the direction of rotation of the wheel shaft, for one revolution, and at the same time reversing the wheels. The present inventor knows of no such machine that can be reset without substantially interrupting the turning of the counting wheels.

Counting machines and particularly printing machines for sequential marking generally employ the decimal system and where numbering wheels are employed the wheel corresponding to each place in the system (correspond to units, tens, hundreds, etc.) will carry digits numbering 0-9. My invention is not necessarily limited to decimal numbering systems, however, but will apply to other numbering systems wherein the significance of individual digits depends not only upon their configuration but also their place in the complete number.

SUMMARY I have invented a method of sequentially indicating quantities in a plurality of numerical sequences comprising the steps of advancing numbers comprising a plurality of digits sequentially, for a quantity being indicated, for each of the sequences; and at the start of each sequence reversing only the highest placed of the digits to an earlier occurring value while continuingthe sequence of the remaining digits. In my method the sequences may increase in value, in which case the value of the highest placed digit will be decreased at the beginning of each sequence; or the sequences may be decreasing in value, in which case the value of the highest placed digit will be increased at the beginning of each sequence. My method has particular application where the quantities are indicated by marking or imprinting them on the surface of one or more articles, being quantified, such as the marking of distance measurements on a continuously manufactured strand.

Particularly useful in conjunction with my method, I have invented a resettable counter mechanism comprising a plurality of members bearing digits such preferably as the numerals 0, 1,2, 3, 4, 5,6,7, 8, and 9, and means which position the members so as to place the digits on one of the members relative to the digits of other members to form a multi-digit number such preferably as a number in the decimal system. My apparatus also has means for automatically operating the members so as to change a number comprised of the digits in sequence, and means for resetting the member with the highest placed digits without changing the count of the other members. In a preferred embodiment my invention comprises a resettable sequential printing apparatus with a shaft, a plurality of numbering wheels mounted in line on the shaft and means for turning the wheels on the shaft. This turning means comprises means for turning a first-in-line of the wheels around the shaft, means for turning the next adjacent wheel and each succeeding wheel in line to an angle dependent on the rotation of the preceding wheel. The shaft and wheels are mounted on a frame which also mounts cam engaging means. Cam means are mounted on the final-in-line of the wheels which are engaged by the cam engaging means to reset the wheel final-in-line without resetting the other wheels when the cam means are urged along the line of the shaft against the cam-engaging means. To urge the'cam along the line of the shaft means are comprised in the apparatus such as valve means for compressed. gas. Advantageously the wheel final-in-line will be fixed against linear movement along the shaft and will be urged along with the cam means by a linear movement of the shaft itself, which is free to slide linearly within the other wheels.

. Means are provided to prevent the other wheels from reverse, as I shall hereinafter explain.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The FIGURE shows a side view, largely in section of a preferred embodiment of my invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of my apparatus, comprised in a rotating member indicated generally by the numeral 10, is used in the method of my invention to imprint footage markings sequentially on a cable 11 as it leaves an extruder, not shown, as has been generally disclosed in Burr et al. US. Pat. No. 3,143,959, to which the present invention would be applicable. A printing apparatus 12 is incorporated in the member in such a manner that, as the member 10 rotates above the cable 11, elements of the apparatus 12 are brought in periodic contact with the surface of the cable 11. I have shown a member 10 comprising only one of the printing apparatuses 12 so that an imprint is made on the cable 11 once with each rotation of the member 10 upon a shaft 13 but a second printing apparatus may be incorporated opposite the apparatus 12 in the member 10 so that two imprints are made per revolution, or, indeed, additional printing apparatus may be added, limited-only by the size of the member 10. For marking telephone cables I prefer to print the footage at twofoot intervals so that the distance from the center of the shaft 13 to the surface of the cable 11 is chosen substantially as the radius of a two-foot circle. The apparatus 12 comprises a frame 14 slidably supporting a shaft 16 upon which are rotatably mounted five printing wheels 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. Raised printing indicia 22 for the numerals 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 appear on the surface of the wheel 17 because only two-foot intervals are being marked, but the remaining wheels 18-21 bear indicia for the numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Ifl wished to imprint at every foot the wheel 17 would also bear all the indicia. Each of the wheels 17-21 is firmly attached to, and turned by one of the notched sprockets or gears 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, respectively tumable by toothed wheels 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 rotatably mounted on a fixed shaft 33. The toothed wheel 28 is driven by a gear train 34, in a known manner, to turn the wheel 17 1/10 of a revolution for each revolution of the member 10 around the shaft 13. The wheels 17, 18, 19, bear respective pins 36, 37, 38, 39 which engage the teeth respective of the wheels 29, 30, 31, 32 to advance the count of the wheels in a decimal system in response to the initial urging of the toothed wheel 28. The counting mechanism, as such, so far described is not novel and, indeed, other means of indexing the count are known and may be used in my apparatus. What is new is my method and means of resetting now to be described. The shaft 16 is slidable within the hubs of the wheels 17-20 when urged leftward (as seen in the drawing) by pressure, such as air pressure, on the end surface 41 but the wheels 17-20 themselves are restrained from lateral motion by the frame 14 through which the wheels project at closely fitting slotted openings 42, 43, 44, 45, and by the toothed wheels 28-31 which are themselves restrained from lateral movement on the shaft 33 by a spacer sleeve 46. The end wheel 21, however, is free to move laterally with the shaft 16 when urged to do so by a washer 47 seated in a circumferential groove 48 of the shaft 16. An end 49 of the hub of the wheel 21 is cammed at 50 to fit a fixed projection 51 on the frame 14. This cam surface is so positioned that when the end 49 is urged against the projection 51 by a leftward movement of the shaft 16, with an indicia of the numeral 8 or 9 of the wheel 21 exposed in printing position, the wheel 21 will turn to again expose the numeral 0. When the wheel 21 has been reset, it is immediately returned to printing position by a spring 52. When the movement required of the wheel 21 to reset it is only one-tenth or one-fifth of a revolution depending on whether it is being advanced to 0 from the 9 or 8 position the actual lateral movement required of the shaft 16 is minimized and this has an advantage in reducing the overall dimension of the apparatus. It will be recognized, however, that by increasing the length of the shaft 16 and its supporting surfaces 53, 54 the camming action may be increased, within the scope of my invention, sufficiently to turn the wheel 21 to zero from any position. Although I have chosen to reset the wheel 21 by means of a cam 50 on the wheel and a projection 51 on the frame the location of the cam and projection may be reversed within the scope of my invention.

To urge the shaft 16 leftward the end 41 is enclosed within a housing 56 opening in a nipple 57 to which is attached an air hose 58 connected to a manifold over an end of the shaft 13 that is connected, by means of a second hose or piping 59, to a source of compressed air, not shown. Operation of a thumb valve 61 will introduce a spurt of compressed air instantly to reset the wheel 21 without changing the count on any of the other wheels. Hydraulic means for moving the shaft 16,

or mechanical substitutes for the pneumatic system described, such as known flexible shafting may be used within the scope of my invention.

OPERATION The apparatus 10 has been described for applications wherea continuous footage count is never required to exceed 20,000 feet. Where longer counts are required a six-wheel printer can be employed in which case it will still be true that only the end wheel in the highest numerical place will be reset. At the start of a measured run of cable the valve 61 is momentarily energized so that the first digit reads zero (or is omitted) with the result that the apparatus will print a four-digit number whose actual value is inconsequential inasmuch as the length will always be determined by the difference between the numbers. The apparatus prints a numerical sequence on cable that is emerging from an extru-' sion machine and is being taken up upon shipping reels. The counting is permitted to proceed sequentially until a number greater than 80,000 is imprinted. At this point the reel being wound is permitted to continue in sequence but the wheel 21- is reset by operating the valve 61 so as to start the next reels with the reset number. Where a dual take-up is employed for the cable the extrusion operation is not stopped between reels but resetting is accomplished so rapidly that it takes place while the member 10 is rotating between imprints. It is then only necessary to time the switchover between take-up reels so that the cable can be cut at the end of the imprinted sequence.

I have invented a new method and apparatus of which the foregoing description has been exemplary rather than definitive and for which I desire an award of Letters Patent as defined in the appended claims.

lclaim: l. A resettable sequential printing apparatus comprising:

A. a shaft,

B. a plurality of numbering wheels mounted in line on said shaft,

C. means for turning a first in line of said wheels around said shaft,

. D. means for turning the wheel next adjacent to said first wheel and each succeeding wheel in line to an angle dependent on the rotation of the preceding wheel,

E. cam means on the final-in-line of said wheels,

F. a frame mounting said shaft and said wheels,

G. cam-engaging means mounted on said frame for engaging said cam means and thereby resetting said final-in-line of said wheels without resetting the other of said wheels, said cam means being urged along the line of said shaft against said camengaging means, and

H. means for urging said cam means along the line of said shaft against said cam-engaging means.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said urging means comprises said shaft, said apparatus comprising means preventing said final-in-lineof said wheels and said cam means from sliding linearly on said shaft, said shaft sliding linearly within said other of said wheels and means restraining said other of said wheels from moving along the line of said shaft.

3. The. apparatus of claim 1 comprising valve means for compressed gas urging said shaft toward said camengaging means.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 comprising valve means for compressed gas urging said shaft toward said camengaging means. 

1. A resettable sequential printing apparatus comprising: A. a shaft, B. a plurality of numbering wheels mounted in line on said shaft, C. means for turning a first in line of said wheels around said shaft, D. means for turning the wheel next adjacent to said first wheel and each succeeding wheel in line to an angle dependent on the rotation of the preceding wheel, E. cam means on the final-in-line of said wheels, F. a frame mounting said shaft and said wheels, G. cam-engaging means mounted on said frame for engaging said cam means and thereby resetting said final-in-line of said wheels without resetting the other of said wheels, said cam means being urged along the line of said shaft against said cam-engaging means, and H. means for urging said cam means along the line of said shaft against said cam-engaging means.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said urging means comprises said shaft, said apparatus comprising means preventing said final-in-line of said wheels and said cam means from sliding linearly on said shaft, said shaft sliding linearly within said other of said wheels and means restraining said other of said wheels from moving along the line of said shaft.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 Comprising valve means for compressed gas urging said shaft toward said cam-engaging means.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2 comprising valve means for compressed gas urging said shaft toward said cam-engaging means. 